Increasing throughput density of TCP traffic on a hybrid data network having both wired and wireless connections by modifying TCP layer behavior over the wireless connection while maintaining TCP protocol

Abstract

A WLAN driver of the TCP proxy device transmits network packets transmitted from a sender device over the data communication network to a wireless station. TCP network packets are diverted to a TCP proxy pipeline. First, the wireless receiver device is emulated to a wireless sender device by providing an ACK packet to the sender device in order to close the TCP session on the sender side by responding to a TCP handshake with the sender device. Second, the sender device is emulated to a wireless station over the wireless network connection by initiating a TCP handshake with a wireless station including receiving an ACK packet from the wireless station and suppressing the ACK packet from an initial destination associated with the sender device.

We claim: 
     
       1. A method in an access point, on a data communication network, for increasing throughput density of TCP traffic on a hybrid network having both wired and wireless connections, by modifying TCP layer behavior over the wireless connection while maintaining TCP protocol, the method comprising the steps of:
 receiving, at a WLAN driver of the access point, network packets transmitted from a sender device over the data communication network to a wireless station; 
 examining, with a processor of the access point, network traffic using DPI (deep packet inspection); 
 detecting a TCP session from the DPI to examine each network packet; 
 responsive to detecting the TCP session, diverting network packets to a TCP proxy pipeline, comprising:
 emulating a wireless receiver device by providing an ACK packet to a sender device in order to close a TCP session on the sender device by responding to a TCP handshake with the sender device; 
 emulating the sender device to a wireless station over wireless network connection by initiating a TCP handshake with a wireless station including receiving an ACK packet from the wireless station and suppressing the ACK packet from an initial destination associated with the sender device; after receiver device emulation, aggregating multiple network packets at the WLAN driver into an A-MPDU (MAC protocol data unit) network packet; and 
 
 transmitting, from the WLAN driver, the network packets for transmission to the wireless station over the wireless network of the data communication network. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 detecting a non-TCP session using DPI to examine each network packet; and 
 responsive to detecting the non-TCP session, transmitting, from the WLAN driver, the network packets directly to the WLAN driver for transmission to the wireless station, while allowing TCP to operate in a conventional manner without diverting the network packets to a TCP proxy pipeline. 
 
     
     
       3. A non-transitory computer-readable medium to, when executed by a processor, perform a computer-implemented method in an access point for increasing throughput density of TCP traffic on a hybrid network having both wired and wireless connections, by modifying TCP layer behavior over the wireless connection while maintaining TCP protocol, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a WLAN driver of the access point, network packets transmitted from a sender device over the data communication network to a wireless station; 
 examining, with a processor of the TCP access point, network traffic using DPI(deep packet inspection); 
 detecting a TCP session from the DPI to examine each network packet; 
 responsive to detecting the TCP session, diverting network packets to a TCP proxy pipeline, comprising:
 emulating a wireless receiver device by providing an ACK packet to a sender device in order to close a TCP session on the sender device by responding to a TCP handshake with the sender device; and 
 emulating the sender device to a wireless station over wireless network connection by initiating a TCP handshake with a wireless station including receiving an ACK packet from the wireless station and suppressing the ACK packet from an initial destination associated with the sender device; 
 emulating the sender device to a wireless station over wireless network connection by initiating a TCP handshake with a wireless station including receiving an ACK packet from the wireless station and suppressing the ACK packet from an initial destination associated with the sender device; after receiver device emulation, aggregating multiple network packets at the WLAN driver into an A-MPDU (MAC protocol data unit) network packet; and 
 
 transmitting, from the WLAN driver, the network packets for transmission to the wireless station over the wireless network of the data communication network. 
 
     
     
       4. An access point, on a data communication network, for increasing throughput density of TCP traffic on a hybrid network having both wired and wireless connections, by modifying TCP layer behavior over the wireless connection while maintaining TCP protocol, the access point comprising:
 a processor; 
 a network interface, communicatively coupled to the processor and the data communication network; and 
 a memory, storing:
 a WLAN driver to receive network packets transmitted from a sender device over the data communication network to a wireless station, 
 
 wherein the processor to examine network traffic using DPI (deep packet inspection), to detect a TCP session from the DPI to examine each network packet, and responsive to detecting the TCP session, to divert network packets to a TCP proxy pipeline, comprising:
 emulating a wireless receiver device by providing an ACK packet to a sender device in order to close a TCP session on the sender device by responding to a TCP handshake with the sender device; 
 emulating the sender device to a wireless station over wireless network connection by initiating a TCP handshake with a wireless station including receiving an ACK packet from the wireless station and suppressing the ACK packet from an initial destination associated with the sender device; after receiver device emulation, aggregating multiple network packets at the WLAN driver into an A-MPDU (MAC protocol data unit) network packet; and 
 transmitting, from the WLAN driver, the network packets for transmission to the wireless station over the wireless network of the data communication network.